Kingdom Hearts III: The Hearts of Darkness
by B0nd0fS0uls
Summary: Sora and his friends have been called upon once again and this time they will meet even more Keyblade Masters. But what kind of pasts do these masters hold? Main pairing is So/Kai. OC/OC soon after the beginning. T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Kingdom Hearts III: The Hearts Of Darkness

A/N: Welcome to my Kingdom Hearts fanfic The Hearts Of Darkness. This is obviously going to continue the story and introduce a few new characters of my own design. Well without further ado, take it away Sora!

Sora: With pleasure! B0nd0fS0uls doesn't own Kingdom Hearts. Disney, Square Enix, and Tetsuya Nomura do!

Chapter 1: The New Adventure Begins

Riku, Sora, and Kairi stood there and looked at the letter from the King. In summary, it said that another threat has emerged and that a ship would be there in a few hours to pick them up and bring them to Radiant Garden for the briefing of it. They stared at it in shock and amazement.

"Oh man, not again," Sora complained.

"Even I'm coming along this time," Kairi said. "What does that mean?"

"I suppose it means that things have gotten really bad," Riku said plainly.

"So they'll be here in a few hours," Sora said. "Guess we really should tell our parents about it this time."

They all nodded and went off to tell their parents. After Sora had told his parents, he was gathering a few things.

_'At least Kairi is coming with us this time,'_ Sora thought to himself. _'I guess it's up to me to keep her safe. I really should tell her how I feel though… I'll do that on the Gummi Ship then.'_

Sora quickly finished up and headed back to the beach where they had found the letter. He saw that Kairi and Riku were already there talking. When Kairi saw Sora, she waved at him. Filled with his usual happiness, he ran to them.

"So Sora," Riku said, "how did your parents act when you told them that we would be leaving again?"

"They were actually pretty calm about it," Sora said. "What about yours?"

"They were against it for a while but I convinced them," Riku responded.

"So when is our ride getting here?" Kairi asked.

"Don't know," Sora admitted as he sat down. He thought for a moment and said, "Hey , Kairi, how much training have you done with your keyblade?"

"Not much," the redhead replied. "I mostly just try to use moves that I've seen you and Riku use."

"We should probably teach you to use it as well as magic," Sora said. "I'd be glad to teach you."

"And I'd be glad to have you as a teacher," Kairi said smiling and moving some of her hair out of her face.

"Heads up!" Riku said as the Gummi Ship began to descend into the atmosphere. When it landed, the hatch opened and Donald and Goofy ran out to greet Sora. They both enveloped him in a hug, causing them all to fall back.

King Mickey walked out next and said, "Hiya, everyone! How have you been the past few months?"

"Pretty good," they all said.

"Well that's good to hear," said a new voice that neither Sora, Riku, or Kairi recognized. They looked toward the ship and saw a boy that appeared to be the same age as Riku with blond hair and hazel eyes wearing a black shirt with a crown on it (the kind of three pointed crown that's common in the series) and black shorts that went past his knees. "So you three must be Sora, Riku, and Kairi," the boy said. "Nice to meet you."

"Who are you?" Sora asked, now on his feet.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself," the boy said. "I am Max Brazen, and I am a Keybearer just like you three." he held out his hands and summoned two keyblades. The one in his left hand was black. The hand guard around the handle was like the one on the Kingdom Key but black. The blade itself was long and slightly curved. At the end were three menacing needles that stuck out towards the inside of the curve of the keyblade. In his right hand was an identical keyblade except that it was pure white and instead of needles it had points that were rounded off. "These are my two favorite keyblades," he said. He lifted the black one and said, "The 'Death of Innocence,'" he lifted the white one and continued, "and the 'Birth of Hope.' However, I am capable of summoning hundreds of keyblades at once, called the Keyblade Swarm." He dismissed the two keyblades and snapped his fingers. When he did, around fifty different keyblades appeared behind him. Sora even recognized a few keyblades that he had used in the past.

"That's amazing," was all Sora could manage to say.

"It is isn't it?" Max said.

"Max is a good friend of mine," the King said. "I met him when him and his girlfriend had their world taken by the darkness."

"You made a mistake in your words," Max said, his voice and tone darkening. "My home was obliterated by the darkness. It cannot return."

"Well where's your girlfriend?" Kairi said trying to change the subject.

"Being held captive by our new enemies," Max said.

"Oh," Kairi said sadly.

"Well then," Max began with a happier tone, "shall we go?"

Everyone got on board and the Gummi Ship took off. On the Gummi Ship everyone was gathered around.

"So where are we going?" Sora asked.

"Where else?" Donald said. "Radiant Garden.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi immediately perked up at this.

"I'm gonna go take a rest," Kairi said. "Where's my room?"

"Down that hall," Max said, "you'll know it when you see it."

"Kay thanks," she said she got up and began to walk off.

_'Come on, Sora!'_ Sora thought to himself. _'Don't let her walk off! Tell her your feelings!'_

"Kairi wait!" Sora said before she walked off. He walked up to her and said, "I want to say something first. I just wanted to say… I love you!" Sora closed his eyes, expecting to be slapped. When he opened his eyes, he saw Kairi standing there crying. But he couldn't understand why what he had said would make her cry… Unless… they were tears of happiness. She reached her arms around his neck, pulled him close, and put her lips to his in a kiss blazing with passion.

When they parted, Kairi said, "I love you, too."

It was then that the newly made couple realized that they had just done that in front of everyone.

"Finally!" Riku said. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you two to finally admit your feelings."

The two teens just blushed and laughed.

Sorry if it's a bit short! I'll make some longer ones in the future! Up next is a big reveal with a few old characters coming up soon!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey everyone! As promised I will try and make this chapter a little longer than the last one, but unfortunately its mainly just the explanations of the new villains and the plot. Now who should I have do the disclaimer this time?

Kairi: I got it. B0nd0fS0uls doesn't own Kingdom Hearts. Disney and Square Enix do!

If I did own it then I would make either this story the next game after Birth by Sleep or I would make the story that DarthKingdom made the next game! And they would be EPIC!

Chapter 2

As the Gummi Ship named _Highwind_ hurtled through space, its occupants were finding themselves without much to do. Sora had fallen asleep in his bed with Kairi lying down with her head on his chest. They had done nothing but kiss ever since they proclaimed their love for each other. The other people on the ship were feeling happy for them. Donald and Goofy had fallen asleep while King Mickey had just been wandering around.

The newest addition to their group, Max Brazen, was in the kitchen but he wasn't eating. He was staring at a picture of his girlfriend, Kate Flourish, who had been kidnapped by their new enemies. As he stared at the photo he felt tears develop in his eyes.

_'I'll get you back, Kate,' _Max thought to himself.

"You must really miss her, huh?" a high voice said behind him. Max turned around and saw that it was King Mickey.

"Yeah," Max said as he put the picture back in his pocket. "Getting her back is gonna be our first mission, right?"

"Yep," the King said. "We just have to finish up everything at Radiant Garden and then we'll be off to save her."

"That's great," Max said. "It's odd. She normally manages to beat me when it comes to things like sparring and who can kill the most Heartless in a short amount of time, but I somehow always end up being the one who has to save her." He let a small smile form on his face.

"It'll still be an hour or so before we land in Radiant Garden so if you want to take a nap or something you can," the King said as he walked off.

"Don't worry Kate," Max said when the King was out of earshot, "your knight in shining armor is coming to save you." He then closed his eyes allowing sleep to take over.

When everyone woke up an hour and fifteen minutes later, the Gummi Ship had found its way into the airspace around Radiant Garden.

"So where are we going to be landing?" Sora asked.

"Well," Donald began, "as usual the Gummi Ship will remain cloaked up here while we teleport down into the area outside of Merlin's place."

Everyone agreed as a light Shone through the main room of the Gummi Ship as they were teleported to the world below. Sora had to admit that the place looked much nicer that he had last seen it.

All of a sudden a familiar figure appeared in a hologram in front of the bunch.

"Tron!" Sora, Donald and Goofy shouted, happy to see him.

"Hey, guys," Tron said. "its nice to see all of you. So you must be here because of the new threat."

"Right," Max said. "We are going to brief them in a minute. Would you like to come as well?"

"Sure," Tron replied.

"So how are you able to appear out here, Tron?" Sora asked.

"I use the towns security system, Claymore, to project a hologram of myself, so I can communicate with the other users easier," Tron replied.

"That's pretty nice," Goofy said.

"It was Max's idea," Tron said. "He suggested it the last time he was here a few weeks ago.

"Well, I do what I can to help out others," Max said. "It's almost like a mental condition for me. I just love to see other people happy."

"Here we are," the King said as they approached the home that belonged to Merlin the wizard. When they opened the door, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald, and Goofy were surprised to see that the room was filled with people from most of the worlds they had been to. There was of course, Leon, Cid, Yuffie, Aerith, Merlin, Jack Sparrow, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Hercules, Genie, Aladdin, Mushu, and even Peter Pan.

"Whoa," was all Sora could bring himself to say. The newly arrived group exchanged greetings with everyone and found their own seats. Kairi, however, opted to sit on Sora's lap.

"Well then," Max said as he took his place in the center of the room, "now that everyone has been properly reacquainted with each other, lets begin. The threat that has revealed itself is ten times the threat of Organization XIII. In all honesty, I would have preferred the members of the Organization be revived than this group of enemies because at least we found a way to beat them last time." Max paused for a moment to allow this sink in before continuing. "They have dubbed themselves as the Hearts of Darkness. From what I have gathered, we have one piece of information on them that we didn't have on the Organization, and it really makes me want to crap myself. We know what their goal is."

"It's probably Kingdom Hearts, right?" Sora said.

"If only," Max continued. "In retrospect that is sort of what their after. Since the beginning of time, Light and Darkness have always held an equal amount of power. The effects of their power, however, have always been different. Light allows for the person using it to remain clear-headed and focused, while Darkness in large quantities is maddening and can cost you your sanity. Sora, when you fought Xehanort's Heartless, you learned that Kingdom Hearts is Light. That is an undeniable fact. The Hearts of Darkness seek to gain the power of the Dark Side of Kingdom Hearts." Everyone began to murmur ampngst themselves. "The power of the Dark Side of Kingdom Hearts is massive, frightening, and maddening. I have had the displeasure of seeing its power. It was by far the single scariest moment of my life, and I've seen some really sick shit. We do have one type of advantage over them though. In order to prevent those mad enough to try and access it, the Dark Side of Kingdom Hearts requires a minimum of three Keyblade weilders to open it. I also seek to increase our numbers so that we may fight them off better." Max stood up and walked over to Sora and said, "What would you say if I told you that i could give Roxas a body and a heart?"

Sora was completely shocked, and with good reason. this person had just offered to give his destroyed Nobody a heart and a body. A life.

"You can do that?" Sora asked.

"Yes because I am one of the people who are chosen to guard Kingdom Hearts from any true threats. the reason i didn't help with your last two adventures was because I felt that you could handle it and that Kingdom Hearts was not in any true danger. I also wish to bring Namine into the feild, Kairi."

Sora and Kairi thought about this for a moment before saying, "Do it."

Max smiled, gave himself some space, and held his hands out.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here it is, the long awaited revival of Roxas and Namine!**

Roxas: Long awaited? You only posted the last chapter revealing it a few days ago.

**I could always have Max say that it was a joke and not have it happen at all.**

Roxas: You're evil.

**I know. Just read the disclaimer already.**

Roxas: B0nd0fS0uls does not own Kingdom Hearts, just the O.C.'s.

**Good boy.**

Chapter 3

Max closed his eyes and mentally removed himself from existence. He did this to concentrate on the task at hand.

"What I am going to do," Max said, "is create a heart for the two of them. When this happens a massive amount of power will flow around the hearts. Tell me, is there any way for those two reach outside of your bodies?" Max opened his eyes to look at the two. immediately there were ghostly figures of the two Nobodies standing in front of Sora and Kairi. "Good," Max said. He closed his eyes and focused on the two ghostly figures. from his focus, he could see every detail he needed to build a heart for them. He could see their memories, their personalities, and their, feelings. He gathered up all of this data and focused all of his power into each of his outstretched hands. After a minute of concentration, there was a glowing object of light in each of his hands. "The one in my left hand is Roxas's heart, while the one im my right hand is Namine's heart. Roxas, Namine; place your hand on the hearts." The two ghostly figures complied and were immediately engulfed in a blinding light.

When the light cleared, the solid figures of Roxas and Namine were standing in front of Max.

"Good to see you two," Max said.

"Thank you very much," the two said, "and it's nice to meet you."

"Finally," Roxas said, "I can do this." He then walked over to Namine and kissed her. "I have waited so long to do that!" Naimine just stood there with a massive blush on her face.

"If you're all done now," Max said to get attention to himself, "we will move on to the official business. When this meeting is over, everyone except me, the King, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Namine, and Roxas will head back their own respective worlds to defend them from the threats that are now present. The nine of us will head from world to world to gather clues as to who and where the Hearts of Darkness are. The only person I have any info at all is the leader. His name is Sam Brazen, my father. My father is the one who obliterated my world with the Darkness and practically worships Darkness. He is a severely dangerous individual. If you ever see someone that looks kind of like me but older, I am telling you that he is marked ROS, or run on sight. He will easily torture and slaughter you without any effort or qualms. Find some way to contact us and stay hidden from him until he leaves or we arrive. Now then this meeting is over and you may return to your worlds."

Everyone said their goodbyes and soon only the nine Keybearers, the King, Donald, Goofy, Leon, Cid, Yuffie, Aerith, and Merlin were left in the house.

"So," Sora began, "where are we headed first?"

"Our first order of business is to go to Twilight Town and rescue my girlfriend," Max said. "We won't be taking the Highwind because of the larger amount of people. The new ship _is_ ready, right Cid?"

"You know it," Cid said as he brought them outside. There they saw, in the sky, a massive silver and gold ship. (**Think of the Falcon Peak ship on Kingdom Hearts 2 only siver and gold.**)

"It looks great!" Max said. Cid then gave him the watch device that would allow them to recall themselves to the ship. Max activated the device and they all stood in the main cabin for the ship. They walked down the halls and saw that there were individual rooms for everyone, as well as a kitchen, a training room, and an observation deck.

They soon took off for Twilight Town and were all sitting in the main cabin. The ship had just gone into warp drive, and Roxas began a conversation.

"So," Roxas said, "what exactly Does your girlfriend look like, Max?"

"Let's see," Max said, "her hair is jet black and her eyes are the color of emeralds. We aren't splitting up, so you won't have to worry about it too much."

"Wouldn't we find her faster if we split up?" Kairi asked.

"Yes, but she is held captive by at least one Hearts of Darkness member, and I don't want to take any chances with you guys. Her captor is most likely one of the Heartless members," Max responded. "I'm not going to let people die because my father wants to harness the power of Darkness."

"You said that you were one of the people chosen to guard Kingdom Hearts, right?" Sora asked.

"Yes, Kate, my girlfriend is too," Max said. "What about it?"

"Well what exactly did you mean by it?" the boy asked.

"Well," Max began, "it means that in times of need, I am called out to gather a force to protect it and all of the worlds. It also means that without me or Kate no one can access the full power of Kingdom Hearts, so you see, the attempts launched by Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody would have failed in the end because the power would backfire and destroy them. Not that it would have made a difference."

"What do you mean?" Riku asked.

"Kingdom Hearts's true power is too much for any being to handle. Anyone who obtains even a fraction of it's power would have their body begin to degrade and die. It would kill their body. Xemnas probably realized this right before he fully faded away," Max finished. "Sora. If things get really bad, such as the Hearts of Darkness actually acheiving their goal, then I have been asked by Kingdom Hearts itself to inform you that the only way you would be able to defeat my father is to use Kingdom Hearts power."

"WHAT?" Sora shouted. "But why would Kingdom Hearts say something like that?"

"Because you have saved it and the worlds twice now," Max stated plainly. "Kingdom Hearts trusts you. Enough to believe that you would use its power only for good, even if it would be for a short time. Like it or not, if things go totally south then fate of every single person alive rests on your shoulders."


End file.
